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Álex Rins Advances to Q2 in Le Mans as Fabio Quartararo Searches for Feeling on Friday on Home Soil
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP's Álex Rins had a strong start to the Grand Prix of France weekend, securing P8 in the Practice and a direct place in Q2. His teammate and home hero Fabio Quartararo completed the afternoon session in P17 and will take part in tomorrow's Q1.
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP
GRAND PRIX OF FRANCE
PRACTICE
Le Mans (France), 8th May 2026
8th
Á. Rins
1'30.195 / 21 LAPS
Fabio Quartararo Logo
17th
F. Quartararo
1'30.469 / 27 LAPS
Alex Rins Logo
Though Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP enjoyed perfect riding conditions on the Grand Prix of France Friday, the team ended the day with mixed results. Álex Rins continued the good momentum from this morning's FP1 in the afternoon Practice, securing P8. Fabio Quartararo didn't find the feeling he was looking for yet at the Le Mans Bugatti Circuit. He ended the Practice in P17 and will take part in tomorrow's Q1 session.

Rins felt comfortable early on and finished FP1 in sixth place. The Spaniard showed it wasn't a fluke in the afternoon Practice, setting a 1'30.195s on lap 18/21, that had him secure eighth place in the classifications, 0.288s from the top.

Quartararo debuted a new helmet on the occasion of his home GP as a token of appreciation to his fans. However, it was a tough day at the office for him. He had completed FP1 in P18. Despite pushing hard in the Practice, the times of the MotoGP field were so close together this afternoon that his 1'30.469s, set on lap 24/27 – though only 0.562s off the top – put him in P17 in the timesheets.

The MotoGP action will resume tomorrow: FP2 will be held from 10:10-10:40 (GMT+2), followed by the qualifying sessions from 10:50-11:30, and the 13-lap Sprint starting at 15:00.
ÁLEX RINS
ÁLEX RINS
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
"I am so proud of what I achieved: I was able to go straight into Q2. It's been a long time since I last managed that, so I'm happy about achieving this today. When I arrived at the box, I saw the mechanics being happy too. When the going is tough, results like this are a boost for the team. We need to live in the moment today and then let's see what we can do tomorrow – for sure I will do my best again! But we'll go step by step and session by session."
FABIO QUARTARARO
FABIO QUARTARARO
Monster Energy Yamaha MotoGP Rider
"It was tough because I expected much more, especially on one lap, because I was feeling great doing them at the Jerez Test. Today I didn't have that same feeling, and I made some mistakes on my best lap, but it was not bad. I had a bit of an – for us – unusual feeling on the bike, but let's check. We have a lot of data that we can analyse, also from Álex, so that will be interesting to see. We have to make a step for tomorrow."
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PRACTICE RESULTS
08/05/2026
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